The world is experiencing information explosion revolution, driven by multi-media streaming, cloud computing, big data, and artificial intelligence. Internet traffic is increased by 30% per year. Metro and access networking market is the strongest demanding field for higher density of optical ports and higher data exchanging rate. The industry are migrating from optical mux/demux module previous standard CFP form factor to much smaller form factors, e.g., CFP4 and QSFP28.
The existing optical transceiver module designs commonly comprise three elements: optical interface, optical engine, and package. The optical interface is an optical input/output device to connect to the external network. One may use a fiber to route the signal to the external connection. One may also use a pluggable receptacle to accept an external optical connector.
The optical engine is the main component of an optical transceiver module. It may be a mux/demux module. It comprises one or more of the following: a free-space-optics assembly, a planar light-guide circuit, a semiconductor photonics circuit, light emitting and/or light reception units, and light amplitude, phase, mode, and/or polarization manipulating devices.
The package is the housing for the optical interface and the optical engine. The optical interface is attached to the package. The optical engine is also attached to the package. However, the optical interface and the optical engine are separate units. They are built separately. The finished optical interface and optical engine are then attached to the package. Any substantial impact to the package may affect the coupling alignment between the optical interface and the optical engine.
Accordingly, there is a need for optical transceiver modules having robust alignment with higher resistant to package deterioration for better reliability. These transceiver modules should also have small form factor and low manufacturing cost.
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention.